Reef Octopus NWB-150

[JeffSauer]

Just picked up a used one off of craigslist, the guy said its less than a year old. After purchasing i filled the refugium with water and scrubbed everything out, threw away the egg crate and fiber filters he had in there and set the skimmer in the sump and ran it for about 2 weeks. I had no problems and felt around for any flow issues or cracks or tried to find anything wrong with it and everything checked out.

So my question is, does anyone have one of these and do you like it? I'm going to be setting up my 65 gallon next weekend and i wanted to hear some info about it from real reefers, not some catalog i read online about the product.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/jeffsauer095/SKIMMER.png
FYI, none of the crap is on the skimmer anymore...i soaked in vinegar for a week and all the salt/crust build up just came right off. im running the skimmer for another week to get the vinegar off

[EllieSuz]

I ran the exact same skimmer for a couple of years with no problems. I went bigger in case I wanted to "overskim" and dose vodka, etc. I wouldn't recommend it for anything bigger than your 65 though.

[JeffSauer]

I ran the exact same skimmer for a couple of years with no problems. I went bigger in case I wanted to "overskim" and dose vodka, etc. I wouldn't recommend it for anything bigger than your 65 though.

What do you mean by "dose vodka"?

the guy i bought it from had it running on a 120 gallon and he said it worked great. The skimmer is actually rated for tanks up to 150, please explain.

[tyler206]

Reef Octopus NWB-150 its good for 65g, i dont think you need bigger skimmer

[LawmanRob]

I've had mine for a year. I don't think I will ever buy another brand!

[Peter Eichler]

I had the old version of it on a 65 gallon with frag tank for a couple years. Good skimmers, not good enough to run a well stocked tank much bigger than yours regardless of what they're rated for.

I'd stop rinsing the vinegar for so long and get it on your system.

[kriv4o]

I run the same one on a 40b with a 20l sump, about 55 gals total volume and I love it. No issues after 9 months. I cleaned the pump once for that period.

[JeffSauer]

I had the old version of it on a 65 gallon with frag tank for a couple years. Good skimmers, not good enough to run a well stocked tank much bigger than yours regardless of what they're rated for.

I'd stop rinsing the vinegar for so long and get it on your system.

Yeah I’m going to pick my 65 gallon set-up on August 4th, so I figured I would just keep the skimmer running to help keep the rings from drying out.

[LawmanRob]

[QUOTE=Peter Eichler;20505542 not good enough to run a well stocked tank much bigger than yours regardless of what they're rated for. .[/QUOTE]

Can you explain?

[Peter Eichler]

Can you explain?

It will depend on the individual system and fish load/how much someone feeds. However, given the air numbers and turnover rate of that skimmer it's not going to keep nitrates close to zero in a system much larger than 65 gallons, though I guess my system with the frag tank and sump was about 85 gallons actual volume. If I fed heavy my nitrates would slowly creep up over time. Once I upgraded to an Octo Extreme 200 I could feed like mad and my nitrates remained undetectable.

Also, that skimmer was rated at the end of the time of overexagerated skimmer ratings. Back when a Red Sea Berlin Skimmer and other cheap skimmers were rated at some crazy tank size. Simmers today in many cases are rated fairly and skimmers that turnover way more water and air than older skimmers are rated for smaller or similarly sized tanks.

[brettinteriors]

You might want to post on the reef octopus coral vue forum . The neck size may be too big for a 65. If it is too wide for your bio load it won't skim enough and will become a cesspool.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[tony11387]

I have one on my 125g and it is not as efficient as I would like it to be. When I started my tank (1st attempt with SW), I was told by the LFS that this would be a sufficient skimmer. My mistake was that I did not research enough. My second mistake was that I built my stand in such a way that I cannot remove the skimmer from the sump. I can only remove the pump for maintenance.

One other thing: I bought this skimmer new, but after 11 months of use the pump went bad (leaked lots of voltage). The LFS had it replaced and all I paid for was the shipping.

[JeffSauer]

The neck size may be too big for a 65. If it is too wide for your bio load it won't skim enough and will become a cesspool.

please explain, i can only imagine that the size of the skimmer depends on your bio load because there's no need for a skimmer if there's nothing in a tank. I dont plan on having a huge amount of fish (mostly corals) but would this still make a difference?

[jeffesaurusrex]

I had one, and I didn't really care for it. It was touchy and had to be cleaned constantly for it to skim. I also had to set the water level almost to the top. I ditched it for a Seaside CS1, I'd never go back. I bought the NWB150 new but compared to the CS1 it's as if there was something wrong with it.

[JeffSauer]

I had one, and I didn't really care for it. It was touchy and had to be cleaned constantly for it to skim. I also had to set the water level almost to the top. I ditched it for a Seaside CS1, I'd never go back. I bought the NWB150 new but compared to the CS1 it's as if there was something wrong with it.

Oh that sucks...im sorry man. thanks for the heads up though

[jeffesaurusrex]

Oh that sucks...im sorry man. thanks for the heads up though

I think my experience was the exception, not the rule. It's a well recommended skimmer in it's price range. It just didn't work out for me for whatever reason.

[mikehaase1norse]

That should be a great skimmer. and it should be plenty for a 65g tank.

[PHensley]

I have one on my 125g and it is not as efficient as I would like it to be. When I started my tank (1st attempt with SW), I was told by the LFS that this would be a sufficient skimmer. My mistake was that I did not research enough. My second mistake was that I built my stand in such a way that I cannot remove the skimmer from the sump. I can only remove the pump for maintenance.

One other thing: I bought this skimmer new, but after 11 months of use the pump went bad (leaked lots of voltage). The LFS had it replaced and all I paid for was the shipping.

Bad LFS advice strikes again! The good thing is that you could replace the OTP with a much superior bubble blaster and essentially have a SRO 2000 which should handle your tank better. I think the bubble blaster has twice the air draw of the OTP 2000 (940 lph vs 420 lp).

[tony11387]

Bad LFS advice strikes again! The good thing is that you could replace the OTP with a much superior bubble blaster and essentially have a SRO 2000 which should handle your tank better. I think the bubble blaster has twice the air draw of the OTP 2000 (940 lph vs 420 lp).

I've considered that, but I learned that the BB does not fit directly to the NWB. There is a way to mod it, but I'm not clear on how it is done. Can you help me?